1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to computer networks. In particular, the invention relates to Internet and intranet computer systems.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The Internet is an international network of interconnected government, education, and business computer networks. A person at a computer terminal or personal computer with the proper software communicates through the Internet by placing data in an Internet protocol (IP) packet with an address for a particular destination on the Internet. Using Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), transport of the packet is managed. Communication software on processors or routers on the intervening networks between the source (the users network) and the destination network read the address assigned to the packet and forward the packets towards their destination.
Intranets are typically corporate networks that use the same networking or transport protocols as the Internet. Typically, dedicated servers provide access to corporate information in a cohesive fashion. For example, documents are stored in a HyperText Markup Language (HTML), and users of the intranet network use web browser software to obtain access to the documents. Thus, both the Internet and intranets can be IP networks.
IP network access allows a user to gain access to various applications and related data. For example, a user with web browser software enters an address of a desired application. The address and the users request for access is then routed through the IP network or a plurality of IP networks to a server or processor at the requested address. Access is thus gained to the application. The user may then request further information such as an HTML document or further processing associated with the application. Using HyperText Transport Protocol (HTTP), HTML documents are communicated to the user.
Various groups provide the servers and associated applications. For example, a corporation provides a content server for access to information about that corporation by users through the IP network. Multiple servers, each geographically remote to the other, may run the same applications for more efficient data retrieval.
Typically, any given server is dedicated to a finite number of groups or companies and includes a dedicated data storage source. For reliability, a second server or processor and a mirrored data source are held in standby and cross connected to the operational server and data storage source. One data storage source provides output data and receives input data. The other data storage source receives input to maintain a mirror image of the fully operational data source. If the operational data source crashes, the second data source becomes operational. Likewise, if the operational server crashes, the second server becomes operational.
The above described redundancy is an inefficient and expensive method to provide survivability. Furthermore, adding additional server or data storage source capabilities may require unacceptable amounts of down time during upgrading.